Behind the Scenes of the New Wrigley Beach Home
I’m introducing a new blog post category “Behind Design” where I share some of the design decisions we make in the field, during and after photos, and a look inside the process at Melissa Morgan Design.
Today I want to share with you the renowned Wrigley beach house we recently completed in Newport Beach, California. This was a spec home that was sold for approximately $7,500,000. This developer wanted to sell this house completely furnished so we had the unique opportunity to design a spec home from design development through custom furnishing. The property was originally a summer beach home for the Wrigley Family and our developer was able to divide it into 2 lots for resale.
The Foyer of the house was laid out in brick and we wanted to continue that theme into the kitchen. Our goal here was to keep the brick theme while maximizing the “Statuarietto Marble” slab above the Viking range. We purposely used an arch with vertical bricks rather than a square design to show more of the beautiful slab. In addition we chose a custom hood recessed into the soffit as not to detract from the slab. In the finished picture all you see is a beautiful slab and a polished chrome pot filler by ROHL.
In planning we realized that there was a considerable wasted space under the staircase, so instead of whining about it, we “wine cellared” about it and turned it into a focal point. With this small space we choose to backlight the cellar to make the space feel bright and open. Also, we selected an all glass door and small hardware to keep the focus on the bottles. The flooring on this project is white oak we made sure to run this into the wine cabinet and match it with the railing to keep the space clean and consistent.
The spindles on this railing are tapered to give a classic look. We made sure to keep them no more than 4” apart per building code and we avoided putting posts at each landing so it didnt deter from the design.
Our goal in the above picture was to combine the kitchen, dining and living room into one great open space. Our client wanted to continue the coffered ceilings throughout the space. We compromised by making the coffered ceiling more shallow than normal and didn’t add any additional molding. Also, we painted the bays taupe to add contrast and depth without making the coffered ceilings feel heavy in the room.
To give the kitchen a warm feel we chose to panel the refrigerator and coffee maker, by Miele behind doors. Also, to add counter space we added pull out cutting boards on each end of the Viking range.
White, white, white was the goal of this bathroom. Our challenge was to keep the sink centered between the two windows and include a vanity space for makeup. We made this space work by using the same Statuarietto Marble on both the sink and vanity and continuing it into the shower. In addition, we wanted to make the sink feel like a piece of furniture so we added decorative feet and detailed the edge of the backsplash. Our main focus was to preserve the view and experience from the bathtub overlooking the bay, so we maximized the size of the window opening and used a low platform bed as not to obstruct the view.
It nice to repeat a design in another part of the home. We brought the coffered ceiling design up to the master bedroom. I think it helps to unify the 2 spaces.
We needed to house mechanical equipment on one side of the fireplace so we built a cabinet to house the equipment and matched it to the other side.
We had left over slab from the kitchen and bathrooms so we created a floating mantel and hearth out of the remaining Statuarietto Marble.
We fabricated custom swivel chairs so that you could turn to enjoy the fireplace and also take in the bay front view.
I wanted to allow light to come through the 2 windows above the builts in but we needed privacy from the neighbors. We installed an opaque sheer on a roller and hidden behind a wood valance.
The fireplace is large and quite a focal point. We used a smooth plaster because it would cover the curvilinear design and offered an eclectic feel to the contemporary beach design.
The herringbone brick inside the fireplace matched the walls perfectly and makes that space super cohesive.
The white furniture matched well with the white beams and felt light and breezy.
Design challenge here was to incorporate a light fixture that would provide light at each level. The glass allowed light to shine and the black contrasted with all the neutral finishes.
To continue the contemporary coastal design we went with black and white prints of our local waves and wrapped the canvas in a distress white oak frame. It paired well with the flooring.
We painted the spindles white so it would not obstruct your view to the skylight.
For this space we specked wolf appliances, sunbrella fabric and a cold beer to enjoy the view and flip some burgers.
Just add s’mores! 🙂
